Gastroenterology

Inflammatory bowel disease patients risk developing stones

16 hours ago

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with a heightened risk of urolithiasis both before and after diagnosis, a study has found. This association is especially pronounced in patients exposed to anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy and those who have undergone surgery, suggesting that IBD severity and surgery contribute to a risk increase.

Which drug is most effective for treating chronic constipation?

19 hours ago

Among medications used to treat chronic constipation, bisacodyl appears to be the most effective in increasing the frequency of bowel movements, while plecanatide results in the lowest increase in the number of spontaneous bowel movements (SBMs) and complete (C)SBMs, according to a study, which provides data that may be valuable to medication guidelines for treating the said condition.

Ustekinumab bests vedolizumab in refractory Crohn's disease

Jairia Dela Cruz, 15 Oct 2020

In the treatment of patients with Crohn’s disease refractory to anti-tumour necrosis factor, ustekinumab is superior to vedolizumab in terms of steroid‐free remission and treatment persistence outcomes in both the induction and maintenance phases, as shown in the results of a comparative study.

Meta-analysis pinpoints effective treatments for functional dyspepsia

10 Oct 2020

In managing functional dyspepsia, itopride and acotiamide, tricyclic antidepressants, histamine‐2 receptor antagonists, proton pump inhibitors, and the antipsychotic sulpiride or levosulpiride all prove to be more effective than placebo, according to the results of a meta-analysis.

From the throat to the gut: Essential learnings for physicians

10 Mar 2020

RB Health is committed to support healthcare quality improvement through CME activities that help physicians stay updated with the latest developments in medicine. At the RB symposium held in Kuala Lumpur, two distinguished speakers gave their insights into the management of acid reflux and sore throat – two of the most common reasons for patients to visit their doctors.

Vonoprazan: A new era in the treatment of acid-related diseases

26 Nov 2019

At the recent Takeda Malaysia Vocinti® (vonoprazan) launch, held in conjunction with the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology - GUT 2019 at Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur, Professor Akihito spoke about vonoprazan’s merits as an alternative to conventional proton pump inhibitors.

Relationship between tumour response to systemic therapy and overall survival in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Dr Raghav Sundar, 09 Sep 2019

Overall survival (OS) is currently the primary criteria in assessing the efficacy of a cancer treatment. Dr Raghav Sundar, a consultant medical oncologist at the National University Hospital, Singapore, details the crucial role played by tumour response in evaluating treatment efficacy, with a focus on the multiple kinase inhibitor lenvatinib in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

PyloBalance as an adjunct therapy in the treatment of H. pylori infections

17 Jul 2019

All Helicobacters are urease-positive, able to convert aminoacids and urea into ammonia to neutralize stomach acid, andhighly mobile – characteristics that help them invade the mucosallayer to evade the body’s immune response. Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) is linked to peptic ulcer disease, chronic gastritis,gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, andearly gastric cancer. The infection rate of H. pylori is over 80% indeveloping countries and 20–50% in industrialized nations, withover 4.4 billion people testing positive for the bacteria in 2015.1,2

BEACON CRC: Strategies to manage treatment-related AEs

Roshini Claire Anthony, 06 Oct 2020

Several strategies have been proposed to help manage the adverse events (AEs) that emerged during the BEACON CRC trial which assessed the effect of encorafenib plus cetuximab in patients with BRAF V600E mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) who had progressed after one or two prior regimens.

Daily albumin infusion fails to reduce infection, renal dysfunction in decompensated cirrhosis

Roshini Claire Anthony, 21 Sep 2020

Daily albumin infusion to achieve serum albumin levels of ≥30 g/L did not reduce the risk of infection, renal dysfunction, or mortality in individuals with acute decompensated cirrhosis, according to results of the ATTIRE* study presented at ILC 2020.

Single tremelimumab priming dose exhibits acceptable safety for advanced HCC

Audrey Abella, 14 Sep 2020

The novel combination regimen comprising the immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) durvalumab (anti-PD-L1) and tremelimumab (anti-CTLA-4) showed a favourable safety profile and clinical activity for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), according to detailed safety data presented at ESMO GI 2020.

Switch from TDF to TAF does not affect viral suppression in chronic HBV

Roshini Claire Anthony, 10 Sep 2020

In virologically suppressed patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, switching from tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) to tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) did not affect their rates of viral suppression, according to the final 96-week analysis of a phase III study.

ATLAS: Some hits, some misses for combo therapy in NASH

Pearl Toh, 10 Sep 2020

The combination therapy of cilofexor (CILO) and firsocostat (FIR) missed the primary endpoint but achieved improvements in other secondary parameters including fibrosis markers, disease activity, and liver function in patients with fibrosis due to NASH*, according to the ATLAS trial presented at digital ILC 2020.

Diagnosing, monitoring NASH, fibrosis: Will noninvasive tools work?

Audrey Abella, 10 Sep 2020

Interim results of REGENERATE* trial highlight the ability of experimental noninvasive tests to evaluate treatment response in adults with NASH** and advanced liver fibrosis who are receiving obeticholic acid (OCA).

INVICTUS crossover analysis boosts potential of ripretinib for GIST

Audrey Abella, 08 Sep 2020

The novel switch-control tyrosine kinase inhibitor ripretinib delivered a clinically meaningful benefit for patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) following crossover from placebo, and had a safety profile consistent with that observed in the double-blind phase, according to the results of the crossover analysis of the INVICTUS trial presented at ESMO GI 2020.

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